The 1990s saw the rise and fall of the virulently antigovernment
“Patriot” movement, made up of paramilitary militias, tax defiers
and so-called “sovereign citizens.” Sparked by a combination of
anger at the federal government and the deaths of political
dissenters at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, the movement took
off in the middle of the decade and continued to grow even after
168 people were left dead by the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City’s
federal building – an attack, the deadliest ever by domestic U.S.
terrorists, carried out by men steeped in the rhetoric and
conspiracy theories of the militias.

In the years that followed, a truly remarkable number of
criminal plots came out of the movement. But by early this century,
the Patriots had largely faded, weakened by systematic
prosecutions, aversion to growing violence and a new, highly
conservative president.

They’re back.

Almost a decade after largely disappearing from public view,
right-wing militias, ideologically driven tax defiers and sovereign
citizens are appearing in large numbers around the country. “Paper
terrorism” – the use of property liens and citizens’ “courts” to
harass enemies – is on the rise. And once-popular militia
conspiracy theories are making the rounds again, this time
accompanied by nativist theories about secret Mexican plans to
“reconquer” the American Southwest.

One law enforcement agency has found 50 new militia training
groups – one of them made up of present and former police officers
and soldiers. Authorities around the country are reporting a
worrying uptick in Patriot activities and propaganda. “This is the
most significant growth we’ve seen in 10 to 12 years,” says one.
“All it’s lacking is a spark. I think it’s only a matter of time
before you see threats and violence.”

A key difference this time is that the federal government – the
entity that almost the entire radical right views as its primary
enemy – is headed by a black man. That, coupled with high levels of
non-white immigration and a decline in the percentage of whites
overall in America, has helped to racialize the Patriot movement,
which in the past was not primarily motivated by race hate.

One result has been a remarkable rash of domestic terror
incidents since the presidential campaign, most of them related to
anger over the election of Barack Obama. At the same time,
ostensibly mainstream politicians and media pundits have helped to
spread Patriot and related propaganda, from conspiracy theories
about a secret network of U.S. concentration camps to wholly
unsubstantiated claims about the president’s country of birth.

Fifteen years ago, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote
then-Attorney General Janet Reno to warn about extremists in the
militia movement, saying that the “mixture of armed groups and
those who hate” was “a recipe for disaster.” Just six months later,
Oklahoma City’s federal building was bombed.

Today, the Patriot movement may not have the white-hot fury that
it did in the 1990s. But the movement clearly is growing again, and
Americans, in particular law enforcement officers, need to take the
dangers it presents seriously. That is equally true for the
politicians, pundits and preachers who, through pandering or
ignorance, abet the growth of a movement marked by a proven
predilection for violence.

The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 as a
small civil rights law firm. Today, the nonprofit SPLC is
internationally known for its tolerance education programs, legal
victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate
groups. For more information, visit www.splcenter.org.